Past Creations.

The bit of creative time I had this week

was used sorting out some older creations

and even though I have shared them here before

I decided to show them again. 

I am also working at trying to add a number of things 

to my Etsy Shop.  

These birds showed up on tea bags a few years ago. 

I then started to add paint and pastels 

and bits of collage to tea bags. 

My collage works changed and included pressed botanical bits

and torn or cut pieces of paper. 

Seeing these creations again

makes me smile,

as I remember the joy I felt creating these pieces. 

I remember so clearly spending an impromptu

creative afternoon, scribbling and not caring where this book took me

and I love how it turned out. 

And making books always brings me such pleasure. 

It has been a bit of a journey as I organize these pieces from creative days in the past. 

Prayer Flags on Earth Day

It is Earth Day today. 

I try to connect with nature daily. 

I know I need this to feel whole. 

What I create often has a connection to nature 

and it made me happy when prayer flags also showed up on this piece. 

My Prayer Flag creation was made by collaging bits of decorated paper, 

adding bits of my photographs 

and adding layers of paint, pen, ink, pastel, graphite 

and whatever else was close by. 

The image below is a computer manipulated version of the original creation. 

 "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."

                                                                            - Aristotle

Mixed Media Play

I am back to playing with
 little bits of paper 
that I add to with paint and pastel and ink and graphite 

or whatever else is within reach. 

True mixed media pieces that I am loving playing with. 

And once I finished playing with the messy supplies,

I played some more on my computer. 

 

Winter Photos

Winter is on its way out 

but I had to share a few more of my photographs

from a beautiful winter day. 

Although I love winter 

I am happy that the days are getting longer, 

and the snow is melting. 

Onwards to spring and summer!

Rustic Look Earrings

Hammering metal and wrapping wire have kept me busy lately. 

I then put them all together to make these earrings. 

I decorated some of the hammered brass dangles 

with bits of letters and wrapped wire bits. 

Then I worked on this group

I call them the 'Rusted and Worn' group

They are made from old pieces of metal strapping. 

I collected the super rusted strip of metal from an old partially built structure

that was taken down a few years ago.  

I collected the partially rusted and worn piece of metal strapping

 from someone that was going to take it to the landfill.  

I guess some people would say I made these earrings out of garbage,

but I think of it as using reclaimed metal.

I cut the worn and rusted metal into various shapes and filed the edges smooth. 

I then added some wire wrapped squiggly bits to the top 

and an occasional bead or hammered metal to finish them off. 

I used the super rusted metal in a similar way, 

but removed the top layer of rust first. 

Both types of metals were sealed with Renaissance Wax Polish.

I hung all of these earrings on sterling silver ear wires. 

I do think it distracts from the look, but lots of people have sensitive ears 

and sterling silver was the only wire I knew of 

that would not bother people when they wore them. 

But then my blogging friend Norma told me about these ear wires

that she wears that would match the style of my earrings

and are comfortable for people with sensitive ears.
She even sent me a couple of pairs to try out!

How fortunate I am to have friends like Norma!

I will be placing an order for these and change out the sterling silver earring wires very soon!  

You can read about other earring creations here 

UPDATE - I have finally updated my etsy shop and included some of my earrings there.